Too close for comfort: inadequate boundaries with parents and individuation in late adolescent girls

Psychometric Properties of the Parent and Youth Versions of the Inadequate Boundaries Questionnaire in Community and Clinical Samples of Adolescents

The Inadequate Boundaries Questionnaire (IBQ) was created as a multi-dimensional measure of boundary violations in parent-child relationships. Use of the IBQ has been increasing; however, its psychometric properties, including its proposed five-factor structure, have yet to be comprehensively evaluated. The current study examined the factor structure, reliability, mother-adolescent agreement, and convergent and discriminant validity of the IBQ-Parent and -Youth English versions among community and clinical adolescents and their mothers. Confirmatory factor analysis most strongly supported four factors: Guilt Induction-Psychological Control, Parentification, No Boundaries (Enmeshment), and Triangulation. The scales showed acceptable to excellent reliability. Mother-adolescent agreement was moderate in the healthy community sample and weaker in the clinical sample. Convergent and discriminant associations supported the validity of the Guilt Induction-Psychological Control scale, with a more complex picture emerging for other scales. Implications of these findings and directions for future research with the IBQ are discussed.

Parentification Vulnerability, Reactivity, Resilience, and Thriving: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review

Parentification occurs when youth are forced to assume developmentally inappropriate parent- or adult-like roles and responsibilities. This review thoroughly examines current empirical research on parentification, its outcomes, and related mechanisms to outline patterns of findings and significant literature gaps. This review is timely in the large context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when pandemic-induced responsibilities and demands on youth, and the shifting family role may exacerbate parentification and its consequences. We used the 2020 updated Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to identify 95 studies (13 qualitative, 81 quantitative, 1 mixed methods) meeting eligibility criteria. Representation from six continents highlights parentification as a global phenomenon. Using thematic analysis, we identified five themes from qualitative studies and five from quantitative studies. These were further integrated into four common themes: (1) some parentified youth experienced positive outcomes (e.g., positive coping), albeit constructs varied; (2) to mitigate additional trauma, youth employed various protective strategies; (3) common negative outcomes experienced by youth included internalizing behaviors, externalizing problems, and compromised physical health; and (4) youths' characteristics (e.g., rejection sensitivity, attachment style), perceived benefits, and supports influenced parentification outcomes. Future methodological and substantive directions are discussed.

Parent and Peer Attachments in Adolescence and Paternal Postpartum Mental Health: Findings From the ATP Generation 3 Study

Background: When adolescent boys experience close, secure relationships with their parents and peers, the implications are potentially far reaching, including lower levels of mental health problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Here we use rare prospective intergenerational data to extend our understanding of the impact of adolescent attachments on subsequent postpartum mental health problems in early fatherhood.

Methods: At age 17–18 years, we used an abbreviated Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment to assess trust, communication, and alienation reported by 270 male participants in their relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers. More than a decade later, we assessed the adult males, now fathers, at 12 months postpartum (N = 409 infant offspring) for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Logistic regression was used to examine the extent to which attachment dimensions predicted paternal postpartum mental health, adjusting for potential confounding, and with assessment for interactions between parent and peer attachments.

Results: Trust in mothers and peers, and good communication with fathers during adolescence, were associated with 5 to 7 percentage point reductions in postpartum mental health symptoms in early fatherhood. Weak evidence of parent-peer interactions suggested secure attachments with either parent or peer may compensate for an insecure attachment with the other.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that fostering trust and communication in relationships that adolescent boys have with parents and peers may have substantial effects on rates of paternal postpartum mental health problems. The protective benefits may be preventative in intergenerational cycles of risk for mental health problems.

Suicidal Ideation among French Adolescents: Separation Anxiety and Attachment according to Sex

The present study explored the links between the quality of adolescents' attachment to their mother and their father, separation anxiety and suicidal ideation. Self-report questionnaires were completed by French adolescents (n = 455; M_age = 15.78 years, SD = 1.61) to probe their attachment styles, separation anxiety (related to school phobia, a secure base, and family members), and suicidal ideation. Avoidantly attached adolescents displayed greater school phobia than securely attached adolescents. Female adolescents with an avoidant attachment to their father tended to report less fear related to family members than their secure counterparts. Male adolescents who were insecurely attached to their mother reported more separation anxiety than securely attached males. The structural models were significant for both boys and girls (R² = .38 and .44, p < .001) with good fit indices. Mediation analyses revealed that separation anxiety partially mediated the negative effect of attachment to mother (especially alienation) on suicidal ideation for both girls and boys, and partially mediated the negative effect of attachment to father (especially alienation) on suicidal ideation for boys. These results support an individuated conception of attachment patterns, with a differential influence of dyadic relationships, and could provide a better understanding of adolescents' suicidal ideation.

An upbringing with substance-abusing parents: Experiences of parentification and dysfunctional communication

Aim

To increase understanding of the consequences of growing up with substance-abusing parents, including how this can influence the experience of becoming a parent.

Methods

In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 parents who had participated in an Infant and Toddler Psychiatry Unit intervention programme and who had experienced substance-abusing parents in their family of origin. Directed qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data.

Results

Analysis of the interview material revealed both a high incidence of parentification and a conspiracy of silence concerning the substance abuse that helped generate symptoms of cognitive dissonance in the children. As parents they experience a high degree of inadequacy, incompetence and stress.

Conclusion

A majority of the children who had grown up with substance-abusing parents responded by taking a parenting role for themselves, their siblings and their parents. These children, often well-behaved and seemingly competent, need to be identified and offered support as they risk developing significant psychological and emotional difficulties that can extend into adulthood. They form an extra sensitive group who may need special support up to and including the time when they become parents themselves. This finding underlines the importance of further research on parenting among those who have grown up with abusive parents.

The relations between inadequate parent-child boundaries and borderline personality disorder in adolescence

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness that onsets in adolescence. Research has demonstrated the central role of parent-child relationships for the development and maintenance of BPD although more research is necessary to clarify the specific dynamics that relate to BPD during adolescence. Based on preliminary research establishing the importance of parent-child boundaries for adolescent BPD, this study sought to evaluate the relations between different forms of inadequate boundaries and BPD in adolescence using a multi-method approach. To that end, 301 adolescents (65.1% female; ages 12-17) inpatients were recruited; parents and adolescents completed questionnaire- and interview-based measures of BPD features in adolescent children and a questionnaire-based measure of parent-child boundaries. Relations were found between parental guilt induction and psychological control with children's BPD features above and beyond relations with psychiatric severity and gender. Relations between parent reports of triangulation (when children are recruited to mediate parental marital conflict) and children's BPD were contingent on the level of children's perceptions of triangulation. Findings confirm previous research suggesting the relevance of inadequate parent-child boundaries to children's BPD features and have important implications for understanding the dynamics in families with adolescents with BPD, representing a relevant treatment target.

Family obligations and individuation among immigrant youth: Do generational status and age at immigration matter?

Immigrant children and adolescents often assume parental roles in their families and may feel guilty about psychologically separating and individuating from the family. However, little is known about this phenomenon and youth' generational status and age at immigration. We investigated various aspects of family obligations (instrumental and emotional roles, language and culture brokering, perceived unfairness) and individuation among 302 immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel: first-generation (n = 44) and second-generation immigrant adolescents (n = 56); young adults who had arrived in Israel before the age of nine (n = 72) and from this age onward (n = 130). Immigrants who had arrived at age nine and older reported adopting more family obligations than other groups. Among the second-generation immigrants, family obligations were related to lower individuation compared to the first-generation immigrants. Possible explanations for the relations between family obligations and individuation according to generational status are suggested.

"I will guide you" The indirect link between overparenting and young adults' adjustment

This study addresses knowledge gaps regarding family dynamics, and identifies young adults at-risk for psychopathological symptoms. In particular, we examined overparenting and its associations with young adults' adjustment (distress and interpersonal sensitivity). Both direct and indirect relations were assessed, the latter through young adults' relational characteristics (attachment, psychological control perception, and boundaries diffusion perception). Also, the contribution of gender of parents and young adults was addressed. Questionnaires were collected from 89 Jewish-Israeli intact families. Mothers reported significantly more use of overparenting than fathers. More overparenting of fathers had a direct relation with less adjustment in young adults. This direct relation was partially mediated by higher levels of young adults' attachment anxiety (for the dependent variables distress and interpersonal sensitivity) and young adults' perceptions of parental psychological control (for the dependent variable distress). More overparenting of mothers was related to less interpersonal sensitivity for male young adults and for young adults who reported less parental psychological control. This study showed that parenting qualities and their interplay with young adults' relational characteristics continue to play an important role in the lives of young adult offspring. Therefore, clinicians dealing with young adults at risk for, or suffering from, psychopathology, should be attentive to overparenting and its possible implications.

Parents and family matter: strategies for developing family-centered adolescent care within primary care practices

Healthy adolescent development and successful transition to adulthood begins in the family. Supporting families in their communities and cultures ultimately makes this support system stronger. Parenting adolescents is described as the most challenging life stage for parents. Primary care providers are in an ideal position to support families with teens. This article reviews stressors, recommends strength-based strategies, describes how health care delivery systems can be organized to address the needs of adolescents and their families, shares a case study of a family-oriented, youth-friendly primary care clinic, and provides practical strategies for developing family-centered adolescent care within primary care practices.

Relations Between Parental and Child Separation Anxiety: The Role of Dependency-Oriented Psychological Control

Although separation anxiety is prevalent in young children, it remains unclear whether and how maternal separation anxiety is related to separation anxiety in children. This study examined associations between maternal separation anxiety and separation anxiety in children, and the potential effect psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers (N = 269) and children (N = 287) recruited for a community sample participated in two 1-year interval data-waves. Children were aged five-eight and were interviewed using an age-appropriate method for obtaining self-reports of separation anxiety and perceptions of dependency-oriented psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers reported on their feelings of separation anxiety regarding their child via a questionnaire. We found that maternal separation anxiety was positively related to separation anxiety in children within, but not over time. We did not find psychologically controlling parenting to mediate this association. Studying other factors than parenting may be an important avenue for future research in explaining separation anxiety in children.

Online support for children of parents suffering from mental illness: a case study

From epidemiologic research, we know that children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) have an elevated risk of developing a serious mental disorder. Aside from studies based on risk and resilience, there has been little research on the children's own perceptions. The aim of this study was to expand our understanding of key variables influencing COPMI's seeking support and to explore whether a website targeted at COPMI could help them improve their ability to cope with their circumstances and to find professional help. This case study illustrates one visitor's use of a website that was specifically designed to help COPMI. The visitor was a young adult female whose two parents both suffered from mental illness. She participated for 3 years in an intervention delivered through the website. Several things helped to inform us about her perspective on living with parents suffering from mental illness, her use of the website and the benefits she derived from using the website. These included (a) her story as she told it in the exit interview, (b) her messages to her peers and counsellors, (c) her user data and (d) the content of her chat conversations with her peers.

Conflitos interparentais e individuação em jovens adultos portugueses: papel dos conflitos de lealdade

O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar em que medida os conflitos de lealdade e a triangulação a uma das figuras parentais medeiam a associação entre a percepção de conflitos inter-parentais e o processo de individuação de jovens adultos. Adicionalmente, pretendeu-se testar se dimensões positivas da relação parental moderam a associação antes mencionada. Os participantes foram 538 jovens adultos portugueses entre os 18 e os 30 anos de idade, de ambos os gêneros. Para ambas as figuras parentais, a coligação (mas não a triangulação) medeia o efeito dos conflitos inter-parentais na individuação dos jovens, sendo que a percepção de cuidado recíproco e intimidade na relação parental moderam a relação entre conflitos inter-parentais e individuação dos jovens. Os resultados foram discutidos à luz do paradigma da vinculação e da formação da identidade.

Adolescência e jovem adultícia: crescimento pessoal, separação-individuação e o jogo das relações

O presente artigo procura problematizar a importância das dinâmicas relacionais no crescimento pessoal. Tendo como ponto de partida a teoria da apego, o desenvolvimento pessoal é pautado por processos de separação-individuação; são estes os processos que permitem a construção de um sentido de autonomia. Recentemente o conceito de "adultos emergentes" tem vindo a ganhar destaque, gerindo a discussão em torno dos factores internos e externos que eventualmente potenciam a entrada na adultícia. Pais, irmãos e pares assumem relevância neste processo, o que implica posteriormente um alargamento da rede social ao contexto de trabalho e às relações amorosas. As implicações desta transição serão discutidas à luz do processo de separação-individuação e dos factores moderadores do crescimento pessoal.

Disorganizing experiences in second- and third-generation holocaust survivors

Second-generation Holocaust survivors might not show direct symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder or attachment disorganization, but are at risk for developing high levels of psychological distress. We present themes of difficult experiences of second-generation Holocaust survivors, arguing that some of these aversive experiences might have disorganizing qualities even though they do not qualify as traumatic. Based on in-depth interviews with 196 second-generation parents and their adolescent children, three themes of disorganizing experiences carried across generations were identified: focus on survival issues, lack of emotional resources, and coercion to please the parents and satisfy their needs. These themes reflect the frustration of three basic needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy, and this frustration becomes disorganizing when it involves stability, potency, incomprehensibility, and helplessness. The findings shed light on the effect of trauma over the generations and, as such, equip therapists with a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved.

Emotional separation and detachment as two distinct dimensions of parent—adolescent relationships

The study examined adolescents’ emotional separation and detachment from parents, analyzing their relations with connectedness and agency, with some aspects of self—other boundary regulation and with problem behavior. The participants were 331 Italian adolescents, aged from 16 to 19 years (mean age = 17.40, SD = 1.14). Separation and detachment were positively related; they were negatively related to connectedness; detachment was also negatively associated to agency. Emotional separation was negatively predicted by empathic concern, perspective-taking and separate self; emotional detachment was negatively predicted by empathic concern and self—other differentiation. Separation negatively predicted internalizing behavior, and detachment positively predicted internalizing and externalizing behavior. Globally, findings showed that emotional separation and detachment are two distinct dimensions of the parent—adolescent relationship.